Wall Street Journal (08/07/14) Kathleen Madigan

The U.S. economy is poised to steadily accelerate after weather hampered growth in the first half of 2014, according to the Wall Street Journal’s monthly forecasting survey of 50 economists. Real gross domestic product is pegged to grow at an annual rate just shy of 3% in the third and fourth quarters, which would put GDP growth over the full year at 2%—not much better than the economy’s overall weak performance during its recovery.

Meanwhile, the economists believe that inflation and labor markets will remain stable, with the consensus forecast suggesting the economy will generate an average of 217,000 new jobs a month for the coming 12 months and the jobless rate will end the year at 5.9% and average 5.5% in 2015. The economists also expect the Federal Reserve’s bond-buying stimulus program to end in October as expected, with the first interest rate increase coming in the middle of 2015.